The Los Angeles Dodgers lineup was without several regulars who left camp to participate in the World Baseball Classic, and their offense struggled in a 2-2 tie with the Seattle Mariners.
Miguel Rojas and Max Muncy both continued their respective hot stretches with singles in the first inning, only to then be stranded by Chris Taylor and James Outman. During an in-game interview with Kirsten Watson on SportsNet LA, Rojas said he would continue wearing Mookie Betts’ Air Jordan cleats because of being superstitious and playing well since first borrowing them.
Jonny DeLuca stranded a pair of runners after consecutive two-out walks in the bottom of the fourth, and Yonny Hernández was left on base following a leadoff triple in the fifth inning.
Muncy led off the sixth with his second hit of the game, and was replaced by pinch-runner Jorbit Vivas, who also was stranded.
While the offense squandered opportunities to break the scoreless tie, Dodgers pitching turned in a strong collective performane.
It began with Michael Grove, who allowed just one hit and had two strikeouts over three innings. Grove was pressed into starting Wednesday night because Tony Gonsolin was scratched due to a sprained left ankle.
Evan Phillips and Caleb Ferguson followed with a scoreless inning each. Ferguson worked his way through immediate trouble as the Mariners put runners at the corners with nobody out.
Jimmy Nelson’s second Spring Training appearance went much better than his 2023 debut that came while it rained. Nelson shied away from using his fastball but had a sharp breaking ball during a perfect inning of work.
Shelby Miller allowed a pair of hits but also struck out two batters in the sixth inning to keep the Dodgers’ bid for a shutout intact.
The stellar pitching was rewarded in the bottom of the eighth inning on Ryan Ward’s go-ahead RBI single.
However, Tyler Cyr had the Mariners down to their final strike before surrendering a two-run home run in the ninth inning.
Drew Avans prevented the Dodgers from losing by hitting a game-tying RBI triple with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Gonsolin possibly not making Dodgers Opening Day roster
Because of the ankle injury, Gonsolin is at risk of not being with the Dodgers for Opening Day. That would create an opportunity in their starting rotation that could be filled by Grove or Ryan Pepiot.
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